Life is not fair! The godly suffer unjustly, and the wicked seem to get away with their evil deeds. Unbelievers point to all the pain and suffering in the world and defiantly say, “If God is a just, loving God, why does he allow war? Why does he allow disease and famine? Where was he during the holocaust? Where was he when my loved one passed away unimpededly? These are valid questions that the Bible answers.i They are legitimate question when asked sincerely. But sometimes they are only asked as as an excuse for continuing in ungodly own behavior. Sadly, those questions are sometimes used as an argument against the gospel.
As Christians we sometimes wonder why God does not intervene and fix our problems. Why does God allow politicians who advocate abortion and promote anti-God behavior to be in power? Why doesn’t God give that power to godly people? These are very real struggles in our lives. Read the book of Job; read Habakkuk; read Psalm 73; read about Paul’s struggle with his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthian 12. This is a significant theme in Scripture. The Bible has a lot to say on the subject.
In Romans 12:19 God promises the oppressed saying, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (NKJV). ii What would the world be like if everyone truly believed that? The criminal steals because he thinks he’s going to get away with it. The adulterer commits adultery because he thinks nobody will find out. But what if—what if everybody really believed the statement we just read from Scripture? They wouldn’t violate other people because they would know that the all-powerful being who created the universe had guaranteed retribution.
Christians have a hard time forgiving offenses because down deep they are not fully persuaded of this either. But the Bible clearly teaches that in the end justice will prevail. Ultimately, nobody gets away with anything! “Do not be deceived,” Galatians 6:7 says, “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” The Apostle John saw the end of the matter in Revelation 20:11-12: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”
Solomon observed in Ecclesiastes 8:11: “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (NKJV). It’s the delay in justice that causes people to assume justice is not going to happen. It brings discouragement to the godly, and it convinces the ungodly they’re going to get away with the wicked deeds. But Solomon continues in the next verse, “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God” (NKJV).
This is the core issue behind our study today. We now come to Zechariah’s second vision recorded in Zechariah 1:18-21.
I. This vision naturally flows out of the first vision and flows into the third vision.
The first vision revealed God’s anger against the nations that abused Israel and his plan to bless his people. The second vision focuses on his judgment of the oppressor nations, and the third vision in chapter 2 focuses on the blessing he intends for Israel, especially Jerusalem. Those connections need to be understood.
We will not repeat all the background information processed in our previous studies. But a few brief reminders are in order. Zechariah and a remnant of Jews have returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. On February 15, 519 BC Zechariah received eight visions. We studied the first one in our last lesson.
Four months earlier (Hag. 2:1) God had promised to shake and overthrow the foreign powers that had scattered and oppressed Israel. Haggai 2:6 begins, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while. . . . .’” That phrase left Zechariah and the others in Jerusalem expecting an immediate retribution on Babylon and the other gentile nations that had mistreated them. Haggai continued with a declaration of what God would do. “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while, I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Notice how the exaltation of Israel is linked with God’s judgment on the nations that had scattered them. “‘. . . and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
Two months lateriii the promise is affirmed. Haggai 2:21-22: “Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.”
However, none of that had happened when we come to our text in Zechariah 1. The report from the reconnaissance patrol in the first vision was that “the whole world [is] at rest and in peace” (Zech. 1:11). Instead of those nations being shaken by God’s judgment, they are enjoying peace and prosperity. The Jews do not understand why God has not fulfilled Haggai’s prophecy since it was to occur “in a little while.” To address their discouragement, God assures them of his anger toward their oppressors. In Zechariah 1:15 he says to them, “and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure [Zech. 1:11]. I was only a little angry [with Israel], but they went too far with the punishment.” That statement was in the first vision.
This second vision expands on that statement by describing how God will deal with those nations. Follow as we read the second vision in Zechariah 1:18-21: “Then I looked up, and there before me were four horns. 19 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, ‘What are these?’ He answered me, ‘These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.’20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, ‘What are these coming to do?’ He answered, ‘These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise their head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”
II. The vision naturally falls into two parts: the four horns and the four craftsmen.
The four horns represent the gentile nations that abused and scattered the Jews. We know these horns represent nations because verse 21 tells us they “scattered Judah,” and they are identified as “horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.” This has to be the gentile nations that God used as agents of his correction of Israel.
Horns on an animal represent their power and might for battle. Whether it is a bull or ram or rhinoceros, the animal uses his horn to defeat his foe. We see that imagery in other biblical passages. Hannah used in 1 Samuel 2:1. Asaph used it in Psalm 75:10, and Jeremiah used in when referring to the defeat Moab in Jeremiah 48:25. All of these would have conditioned Zechariah to understand the horn as symbolic of national power. Daniel’s use of this metaphor in Daniel 7 and 8 may have influenced Zechariah as well.iv So the four horns are without question nations that oppressed and scattered Israel.
However, we are not told exactly what nations are represented by the four hours. Certainly, Babylon would be included. And that nation would be paramount in the minds of these Jews who endured their rule for the last 70 years. Psalm 137 expresses the sentiment they felt toward Babylon.
“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' 4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. 7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” 8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”
From Psalm 137: 7 we might see Edom as one of the nations represented by the four horns in our text. Assyria scattered the ten northern tribes of Israel.v The phrase in Zechariah 1:18, “scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem” seems to include all 12 Tribes, even though focus narrows to Judah and more specifically Jerusalem.vi
Some identify the four horns with Daniel’s four beasts in Daniel 2 and 7. That would be Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, and Rome (with the ten toes Daniel 2 and ten horns in Daniel 7 representing the end-time kingdom during the Tribulation period). Certainly, Daniel’s prophecies point to the end-time, and Zechariah’s second vision probably does too.vii However, there are complications in identifying Zechariah’s four horns with those specific nations to the exclusion of all others. The general thrust of Daniel’s visions and Zechariah’s second vision are, nevertheless, compatible. The scattering of Israel was not limited to the 586 BC event. After Israel’s rejection of Christ (Messiah), Israel was scattered (Matt. 23-24).viii Rome was instrumental in that scattering and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Many have tried unsuccessfully to link the four horns to four particular nations.ix
In Zechariah’s day there would be a partial fulfillment of this prophecy that would happen “in a little while.” The Babylonians were punished by the Persians in the early phase of Darius’s reign.x But this second vision assures God’s people of all ages that their oppressors will be brought down in due time.xi Rome fell after abusing and scattering God’s people. The end-time Antichrist kingdom will fall as well (Dan. 2:40-45; Rev. 14). The principle of retribution on nations that mistreat God’s people flows throughout history.
Since the four horns are not identified with specific nations and are simply described as “horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people,” (Zech. 1:21), it is best to understand them as all nations that oppress God’s people, Israel as a nation and Christians.xii If knowing which nations are referenced were crucial, we would have been given that information.xiii Any nation that oppresses God’s people will fall. It happened to Germany in 1945. It will happen to America if she continues on her current course. This second vision is a warning to any nation that mistreats God’s people. This second vision is also a promise to God’s people that the persecution and oppression will not go unpunished. The means of God’s judgment is revealed in the second half of the vision.
The four craftsmen represent God’s instruments for punishing the horn nations
Zechariah 1:20-21 says, “Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, ‘What are these coming to do?’ He answered, ‘These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise their head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.” Because there are four directions in the earth, the number four is sometimes used in Scripture to depict something or earthly or worldwide.xiv The four horns are earthly kingdoms. These four craftsmen are generally understood as four earthly powers or kingdoms that God uses for punishing the horns. I world history a gentile nation that God uses as a craftsman to destroy one power typically becomes a horn that oppresses God’s people. Persia was a craftsman that destroyed the Babylonian horn. But Persia is also a horn that dominated and persecuted Israel while in power. Greece was a craftsman that destroyed the Persian horn. Then Greece was a horn that persecuted Israel during Maccabean age. History seems to confirm the craftsmen to be earthly empires.
The Hebrew word charash in verse 20 is translated “craftsmen” in the NIV. That is probably the best translation. The KJV translates it carpenters, and the NLT says blacksmiths. But those translations are too specific. The word is used for any artisan regardless of the material he is working with whether it be wood, stone, metal, etc.xv
These craftsmen are skilled in terrifying and destroying the horns. The imagery may be that they cut off the horns of the animal and throw them to the ground—rendering that nation powerless.xvi The allies did it to the axis powers in World War II. Persia did it to Babylon. Greece destroyed Persia. Rome conquered Greece. The German hordes destroyed Rome. God can use the devil to test humanity, and he can use one nation in his judgment of another nation. It is possible that the craftsmen include plagues, famine, volcanos, etc. But the parallel structure of the horns and craftsmen in the vision point to “nations” on both sides equation. History seems to verify that. For every horn that persecutes God’s people, he will have a craftsman to judge the persecutor.
III. The vision carries a timeless message.
The message is this: Judgment on those who oppress God’s people may have not fallen yet, but it will. God will see to it. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19 NKJV). It is passages like this that also reinforce the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 where God said to him, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” It has application for Zechariah’s day, our day, and the last days.
Our text very specifically applies that (Gen. 12:3) to the nation of Israel. America has been a blessed nation. It was a good day on May 14, 2018, the seventieth anniversary of the Israel’s Declaration of Independence, when President Trump officially relocated the United States Embassy to Jerusalem in recognition of that city as Israel’s capital.xvii The nations of the world fight about who owns Palestine. The biblical answer is this: whoever God gives it to since it all belongs to him as the creator. And Scripture tells us he has given it to the nation of Israel. It doesn’t matter who was there first. The Canaanites were there before Israel, but their iniquity disqualified them in the eyes of God. God himself took it away from them and gave the land to Israel. Israel is currently in a state of unbelief as a nation. Nationally Israel has not yet recognized Jesus as the Messiah. That will be resolved at the second coming of Christ.xviii But even now Israel is chosen of God, and the nation that curses them will be cursed (Rom. 11:28-29). National leaders are dealing with something greater than human debate. They are dealing with God himself. He has craftsmen for the destruction of those nations that persecute and oppress the nation of Israel.
But as Christians we too are drafted into the olive tree (Rom. 11:24). By faith we too are children of Abraham (Gal. 3:29). It is a dangerous thing for civil authorities to oppress Christians as well.
I was disappointed to read about the Supreme Court’s recent refusal to defend the religious liberties of Christians in Maine. That state passed a law requiring all health care workers to be vaccinated against COCID-19 and allowed for no religious exemption. Three justices dissented. But the court should have defended our first amendment right—our constitutional right to exercise our faith without government interference.
Fredrich Hayek was a liberal, but he said something that should be remembered in today’s environment. Hayek said, “'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.”xix I don’t know how long the coronavirus is going to be used as a cover for stripping us of our constitutional rights, but I hope it will stop soon.
Our forefathers fought and died for the freedom we have enjoyed. We must not take that freedom for granted. We get insight into George Washington’s thinking on the subject through the following statement that he made in 1784:
“The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field. . . .” He is talking about the battlefield where he put his life on the line. What motivated that? The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty! I hope our children are being taught this in our schools.
“The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field, the object is obtained, and it now remains to be my earnest wish and prayer, that the Citizens of the United States would make a wise and virtuous use of the blessing, placed before them.”xx I cherish the civil and religious liberty that has made this country great. If we lose that, we will lose a good thing as the old blues song says.xxi
More recently President Ronald Reagan warned,
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”xxii
We must contend for freedom, primarily through prayer. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:3-4). Complaining about the problem is not prayer. Worrying about the problem is not prayer.xxiii Instead, we must step into our place of authority in Christ, then contend for righteousness through prayer and intercession.xxiv We pray with our eyes on the Lord and our ears open to his counsel. We then take whatever action he directs. We must not operate out of our own carnal thinking. We do not take action on our own initiative. We follow the strategy he gives. These are perilous times. But we are not intimidated by the challenges. “If God is for us, who can be against us?”xxv
Nations are accountable to God for the way they treat God’s people. God gives space for repentance. He is longsuffering. But he is not indulgent.xxvi The point of Zechariah’s second vision is that God will sovereignly judge the oppressors of his people. He has all the resources needed to get that done. There are already signs of that happening in America. Our humiliation in Afghanistan is an example. The chaos in our cities is an example. The curse of inflation is an example. Proverbs 14:34 warns: “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people” (NKJV). America beware!
Every step this nation takes against godliness and the freedom to exercise our faith in God is a step toward its demise. Nothing will be overlooked by God. Payday will come to America just like it did to Babylon, Rome, and other empires like them. Just because this nation was blessed in the past is no guarantee it will be blessed in the future. God is God. And that will never change.
Let us pray for our nation.
ENDNOTES:
i The foundational answer to these questions is the consequence of man’s disobedience to his creator as recorded in Genesis 3. But God is in the process of resolving all these problems without removing the privilege of freewill. When his redemptive work is complete all the problems addressed in these questions will be fixed permanently (Rev. 21-22). Cf. Rom. 8:18-38.
ii All Scripture quotes are from the New International Version (2011) unless indicated otherwise.
iii See Haggai 2:10, 20.
iv Eugene H. Merrill, An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1994) 110.
v The phrase in Zech. 1:18, “scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem” seems to include all of the twelve tribes, even though the focus narrows to Judah and more specifically Jerusalem. Boda writes, “Because the list includes both Judah and Israel, it reviews the history of both northern and southern kingdoms, against whom two great empires, Assyria and Babylon, applied their military strength.” Mark J. Boda, The Book of Zechariah, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, eds., R. K. Harrison and R. L. Hubbard, Jr. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016) 215.
vi Leupold discusses the complexities involved in this phrase. Contrary to my position he writes, “That the term ‘Israel’ is used not infrequently for Judah even after the division of the kingdom appears in passages such as II Chron. 12:1; 15:17; 19:18; 21:2, 4; 23:2; 24:5, etc. (Keil) emphasis” Leupold’s). Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971) 48. We must keep in mind that after Jeroboam split the kingdom the godly Jews from ALL the tribes migrated south into Judah so that they could continue to obey God’s command to worship in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 11:14-16).
vii Michael Rydelnik, “Zechariah” in The Moody Bible Commentary, M. Rydelnik and M. Vanlaningham, eds. (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014) 1418-19. The theme of God’s shaking and judgment of the gentile nations carries through in New Testament in eschatological passages like Luke 21:24-27 and the book of Revelation. Cf. Heb. 12:26.
viii Cf. Richard W. Tow, Rapture or Tribulation: Will Christians Go Through the Coming Tribulation (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2021) (currently in the last stages of publication). Cf. Mark 13; Luke 21.
ix Cf. Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971) 47.
x “As we argued in our introduction to 1:7-17, it was in the early phase of Darius’s reign that the Babylonians received significant punishment from the Persians of Gaumata and rebellion against Darius. The is signified in the present vision by the horns (Babylonians) disciplined by the ploughmen (Persians).” Boda, The Book of Zechariah, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 213. Cyrus had a liberal policy toward his captives. Although the power of Babylon was overthrown during his time, the violent Babylonian pain and suffering happened under Darius.
xi Leupold eloquently points out the timeless nature of the principle depicted in the vision: “There is about this vision also something that lifts it above the purely local and temporal. With a very definite revelation for Israel in its difficult situation at that time is combined an element of timelessness, which makes there visions repositories of truths that are equally valid for all times.” H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971) 45.
xii Cf. Andrew E. Hill, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, TOTC vol. 28 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012) 138. Cf. Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:7; Rom. 11:24).
xiii “Earlier exegetes tended to seek for four particular nations or events to account for the four oppressive hours. The symbolism of four, however, makes that approach very unlikely. What is suggested here and elsewhere by that number is the universal character of persecution of god’s people by the nations.” Merrill, An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 111-112.
xiv Cf. Dan. 7:3, 17; Mark 13:27; Matt. 24:31; Rev. 7:1; 20:8.
xv Cf. Hill, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, 139.
xvi Hill, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, 139.
xvii “Jerusalem Embassy Act,” Wikipedia. Accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Embassy_Act#:~:text=Jerusalem%20Embassy%20Act.%20The%20Act%20recognized%20Jerusalem%20as,Tel%20Aviv%20to%20Jerusalem%2C%20by%20May%2031%2C%201999.
xviii Cf. Zech. 12; Rom. 11:26.
xix Friedrich August von Hayek, “Friedrich August von Hayek Quotes,” BraineyQuote. Accessed at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/friedrich-august-von-haye-quotes.
xx George Washington as quoted by David Horowitz, Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America (West Palm Beach, FL: Humanix Books, 2018) cover page.
xxi Barbara Lynn, “You’ll Lose a Good Thing,” Lyrics. Accessed at https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2814174/Barbara+Lynn/You%27ll+Lose+a+Good+Thing.
xxii “Ronald Reagan Quotes,” BraineyQuote. Accessed at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/ronald-reagan-quotes.
xxiii Cf. Phil. 4:6.
xxiv Cf. 1 Tim. 2:2; Matt. 28:18-20Eph. 2:6.
xxv Rom. 8:31. Cf. 2 Cor. 9:8.
xxvi Cf. 2 Pet. 3:9-10.
